5 Things You Didn't Know: Interrogation Techniques

5 Things You Didn't Know: Interrogation Techniques

4- One detainee swapped information for an organ transplant

Most interrogation techniques are built upon the premise that a detainee is determined not to surrender any information; substantial psychological warfare and numerous tricks of the trade will be required to extract that prized bit of information. Not always.

A 2004 Newsweek article highlighted a basic tit-for-tat approach as one that the FBI had used successfully for many years, noting that one terrorist surrendered valuable information in exchange for a heart transplant for his child. Recently, Time Magazine noted that all it took to turn the diabetic Abu Jandal, bin Laden's chief bodyguard, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.

5- Physical torture is ineffective

The last thing you didn't know about interrogation techniques is that despite what Dick Cheney says, physical torture is not an effective interrogation technique. That, or the rounds of experts who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on coercive interrogation techniques in the summer of 2008 are wrong or lying.

For instance, FBI Special Agent and counterterrorism expert Jack Cloonon told the committee: "It is my belief, based on a 27-year career as a special agent and interviews with hundreds of subjects in custodial settings, including members of Al Qaida, that the use of coercive interrogation techniques is not effective." Furthermore, he asserts the more effective approach, long used by the FBI, is the technique known as rapport- building. He even quotes the CIA's own training manual, which claims that "heavy-handed techniques can impair a subject's ability to accurately recall information and, at worst, produce apathy and complete withdrawal."